January 4th, 2009 
Missy Whether you’re a blogger or a small business owner with a website, the cornerstone of SEO is backlinks. What are backlinks? In plain English it is when another site links back to your site.
The more the merrier. But how do you get backlinks? There are many ways to gain links back to your blog, below i highlight just a few. In all 9 relatively easy (and free) methods. Enjoy!
1. Guest Posting – This is by far one of the absolute best methods to generate good backlinks to your blog or site. Why? Because you get to literally choose which blog to submit to and this could be a high PR site, a highly targeted niche, a high traffic blog, etc.
2. Yahoo Answers – I found out about this one, when one day i was looking at my backlinks on a blog of mine, and noticed a link from Yahoo Answers. Someone had reference a blog post of mine as an answer to a question. Pretty cool.
3. Digg – This method is solid, but become an active member. Don’t just visit once a week and drop a link, or most likely you will get banned. Submit stories from reputable and big name sites like CNN, WSJ, etc. When you write a killer post, submit it and share it with your friends.
4. Digital Point Forum – This method involves joining the forum, becoming active and adding your links in signature area of your member profile. You’re only allowed a few links in there, so use wisely.
5. Blog Carnivals – In my opinion, this is the second best method to generate backlinks to your blog, and is pretty easy to do. Go to the blog carnival website, find related topic carnivals and submit your best blog posts. That’s it.
6. Do Follow Blog Commenting - Some blogs allow for links back to your blog when you leave a comment, these types of blogs are considered dofollow blogs. Find relevant niche dofollow blogs and leave good comments.
7. Top Commentators Widget – This is a widget that some Wordpress bloggers use to thank their commenters. Essentially when you get listed on this widget, you get a linkback from the carrier blog.
8. (Creative Backlink Method) – ContestBlogger.com – Running a blog contest? Then be sure to submit it to this site, as not only will you get interested parties coming to check out your hot new contest, but you will get a nice shiny new backlink as well.
9. The Almighty Blogroll Link- Keep in mind that an established blogger with a PR 3 and above Google pagerank isn’t likley to give up a coveted blogroll spot to a new blog with zero rank. Why? Because (in Googles eyes) this blog is not yet gained any authority and you should not be linking to it. The best type of link for a new blog is another new blog in the same niche. If you find someone with an established blog to give up a blogroll link, something is wrong. Stay away.
Some other cool ways to build good backlinks to your blog or website include press releases, wordpress theme links, widgets, article marketing, directories, and the list goes on and on.
Key is relevancy and to stay away from what Google considers “bad neighborhoods”, in other words sites with little to no content and a bunch of ads. Steer clear of these sites.
Share Your Creative Link Building Ideas Below?
What creative backlinks methods have you tried and or heard about that caught you by surprise? Please share below.
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I just found out from a friend on Twitter that Yahoo Answers is nofollow, which means links don’t count as backlinks. FYI, all links are good for SEO, but some carry abit more weight than others.
I must have spotted the Yahoo Answers link in Google Analytics not on my wp admin baclinks dashboard, like i originally had thought.
**Shout out to Ben from Frogstr for the correction.
Hey Missy
I’ve practically tried everything except Yahoo Answer. I guess Yahoo Answer is pretty much for building authority than backlink. Still, I prefer the time-tested blog commenting as that’s what works best in my case.
Yan
Thanks for sharing this insight. I have been considering getting involved in the DP community, but haven’t yet. Didn’t realize that it was do-follow backlinks. That is awesome. I have to get started this week.
I am still with Yan on this one, commenting on blogs seem to be the best for me….when I am participating. Will be doing more of that this month.
Yan,
Yeah, i didn’t really use Yahoo Answers prior to finding it as a traffic source on Google Analytics, then started to look into it. It is a go to place for lots of people online, so we as (net marketers and bloggers) need to heed this. Thanxs for coming by as usual.
Hey, Freddie:
I too recently (within the last few months) just got hip to the fact that the links in your sig on Digital Point are dofollow. I had always used it before, and had links on there. Just didn’t know they were dofollow. lol. Now we both know. Plus i have been a member there well over a year now and am an active member. Both key to backlink success.
I do comment on blogs, but not as much as Yan. And yes it is an excellent method for generating backlinks.
Thanxs for the Monday visit.
Sound good i should try this..im in need of traffic. lol
Great post. I’m pretty new to this blogging world so I need to build up my traffic and audience. Thanks a lot
Hi, UA: Weird name for a blog site. You might want to rethink that one. lol. In any case glad you dropped by and let me know if you have any questions.
Hey, Brando: Glad you enjoyed the post. And hang in there with your blog, build one step at a time. I checked out your blog, looks good to me. Keep it up.
You missed the best way to get backlinks…. Ask for them.
Hi, Derek:
Yep, you’re right that is one FANTASTIC method to gain a backlink. Simply ask and you might just score an awesome one.
Thanxs for coming by. Really enjoyed your article on Prevential.
You provide some good suggestions, though I wanted to comment on some of them.
1. How do you recommend getting a chance to guest post?
2. Yahoo Answers links are no follow if I remember correctly, does this hurt its value?
4. Great from all aspects. You can alsso learn a lot from their forum!
Otherwise, everything was great! Nice job!
Sorry, just spotted your comment on Yahoo Answers in the comments section. But still, it’s a topic I’ve been curious on. What are the implications of no follow? Does it have no weight?
And I agree with Derek. When you find people in your niche, it often makes sense to ask them to link to you since visitors will be interested.
Hi, Xscape:
Essentially when your link is “nofollowed” it means Google doesn’t give it alot of credence. Google assigns a rank to each site on the web and this rank is based on the number (and quality) of links pointing to a site. So when a link is nofollow, essentially (in Google’s eyes) it doesn’t count. For the purposes of rank.
When a link is “dofollow”, it does count. (towards ranking)
Hope this answers your question. I’m not an SEO expert but then again who is. Let me know. Talk soon, Missy.
P.S. I forgot to address your other questions. As for landing a guest post from a cool blog in your niche, my advice would be:
1. Ask
2. Ask
3. Ask
This usually does the trick. Make sure the blog you ask is one that ties into your niche. Is the blog established, does it have a rank of 2 or better, etc.
Yahoo Answer links are “nofollow”, but his doesn’t mean a link there has no value. It does. It has value in the sense that it can garner you traffic, exposure, etc. Many bloggers swear by using Yahoo Answers as a blog marketing tactic.
Thanxs for the visit. Do come again.
Talk soon,
Missy.
Another good way to get backlinks that I have used quite often is writing and distributing press releases. If you have an interesting news worth article many press release and article distributing sites are a great way to get that backlink out there.
I’ve tried it all except Yahoo Answersbecause the links are nofollow and I feel it is only good for traffic and recognition, not links
For anybody blogging in physical product niches, Kaboodle is a great source of backlinks.
Missy, I wonder why you don’t use CommentLuv? Would be nice to get few links from you
point 6 in your list…
Awesome tip. I had forgotten about this one. I had read about it somewhere awhile back. This is an excellent source of backlinks for product blogs and online shop sites. Thanxs for adding it. Those reading are surely to benefit from this list.
Hi, Simon: Many bloggers rec Yahoo Answers because of the targeted traffic benefit, and i know it works. Because i get a dash of traffic to a veg blog i run when someone (not me) posted a link to YA leading to an article on the blog. The page doesn’t get boodles of traffic, just some hits here and there. But it is targeted traffic.
Hi, RaceLine: Yep another great source for link building. Some marketers specialize in getting backlinks through Press Releases. I see the service all the time on big time SEO provider sites. Some charge a pretty penny for it, too.
Max: I swear something is wrong with my comments, as i’m pretty sure i had replied to your comment. Hmmn. I think the comment monster ate it. Really.
Well, let me answer it again. Hopefully this time it will stick. I see now that i replied to your Kaboodle backlink idea but not the CommentLuv question.
***I have CommentLuv enabled and always have, but it apparently iswont working. I noticed Andy (the creator of CL) on Twitter the other day and quickly asked him why it wasn’t working, he advised me that the CL plugin won’t work alongside the MCE plugin.
So i’m deactivating MCE for now. Hopefully this will get CommentLuv working again. Thanxs for catching it and i do hope ALL you guys get good use out of it.
Talk soon,
Missy.
Blog commenting and hitting the TC list has given me massive amount of backlinks.
Hi, Ben: This is the way some bloggers get most of their links. Some completely swear by the TC widget. Glad you too find it useful.
i dont mind paying for backlinks. how do i go about starting? do i just buy the highest PR ones i can afford relevant to my industry (printing) or will a high PR be as good as any other?
I have been searching internet for good explanation on backlinks and this one is the simplest one and I will follow it and lets see what happens.
I have started blog with results of my journey in collecting backlinks…
Hi, Adi: Let me know any questions you have on backlinks, i will help in any way i can. Thx for your visit!
How do we create back links?
Hi, Dean: The article above pretty much answers that question, but if you need further help – do let me know. Thx for visiting.
P.S. Feel free to send me an email should you have any other questions. Cheers!
Yeah, but blog commenting like here on this blog yields only no follow links. So why does everyone keep saying blog commenting is a good way to go if that yields only no follow links?
Does the top commentator TC widget give a no follow or a do follow link?
Thanks for any advice!
-Dave
Hi, Dave:
Some blogs have the nofollow removed via a wp plugin, and this makes comments dofollow. The TC widget also can be dofollow.
I am in the process of making this blog dofollow through the TC widget. So do comeback and leave some comments to make it on the Top Commentators widget, and get a little link juice love.
I appreciate your visit (and your comment). Cheers!
My question to experts here.
Is reciprocal linking still good??
Btw good blog here and thanks for sharing 9 ways. I do most of them, but never used yahoo answers.
Thanks Do answer my question.
luv the Top commentor widget
Makes me want to comment! Just deployed it on some of my blogs – thanks
Thanks for the post. I have used a lot of blog commenting before with success. I also do some Digg but it seems to take a long time. I’ll try the yahoo answers soon. I thought they didn’t work well but recently I had a problem with my computer and the yahoo answers came first in Google so I guess people actually seem them
[...] found an article describing methods of generating backlinks at G34media.com with title “9 ways to get good backlinks.” However somehow I don’t agree with effectiveness of such practices because by posting such [...]
All great ways to build links. Posting guest posts on other blogs can really help a lot since it gives you the opportunity to get a link back to your blog directly in a post. I’m not sure if search engines value this more than other types of links, but it’s a great way to get another back link.
Seems like every page I visit on this blog just keeps cementing the fact that I have no idea what I’m doing.
I comment on blogs, not for any other reason but to ask questions. I will admit that I had no idea what a follow no follow was before today.
Does having a few links from yahoo answers help build authority?
Thanks,
Stanley
Hi, interesting blog. I’m right in the middle of SEO and trying to learn about it and understand it. At my age, I figure it’s a good way to stave of alzheimer’s or an early onset of dementia.
Anyway, your post made it understandable – which is more than I can say for other blogs.
Glad you found it interesting. Let me know if I can help you in any way, Magnolia. Cheers!
Hey, Stanley: There’s definitely a ton of info out there on backlinks. Glad my post helped you out some. As for Yahoo Answers there is no authority as their links are all nofollow, but they are good as far as traffic. So in a way all links are good links.
Any other questions, let me know. Cheers!
Absolutely, Michael. Guest posting is truly one of the BEST ways to get a backlink. It is highly under-rated and under-utilized.
Hi,
Nice advice re backlinks, what is your opinion of article submission directories?
Thanks
Hi, Mingus:
Article marketing is a very good method for generating backlinks. Whether you write the articles yourself or hire someone to write them for you, I highly recommend it.
Want to know what I consider the absolute BEST method for generating good free backlinks? In my opinion guest posting is even better than article marketing because you have total control over everything, including the anchor text, pagerank, the author box and everything else. Find blogs that are related to your niche that have atleast a PR of 2 and send them an email asking if you can submit a few guest posts. Most likely they will be thrilled and be happy to receive a few free articles.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers!
Appreciate for your tips & your post usefully. Thanks.
I want to know more about how effective reciprocal link building techniques are. Or are they outdate?
Hi, Tom:
Recip link building doesn’t carry nearly as much weight as other backlink building methods. But that doesn’t mean you should not do it. As long as it is a relevant exchange and you do other things, you will be fine. Just don’t use recip linking as your sole SEO method. Cheers!
You can check if links are allowed to follow if they are better quality links than others using a firefox plugin called NoDoFollow. It works quite well and saves a lot of time.
Although, I would say there is no such thing as a bad backlink, like their is no such thing as bad publicity.
Great post. I do article marketing and that seems to work. One article I wrote on “Go Articles” was requested 88 times….. as long as my resource box was left intact, that is pretty darn good.
Thanks again!!
[...] Link To Yourself – Well not exactly. What I mean is make sure you regularly link to other articles, pages and [...]
Doing some browsing and noticed your website looks a bit messed up in my K-meleon internet browser. But fortunately hardly anyone uses it any longer but you may want to look into it.
Contest Blogger is new to me, I’ll give them a look later on today (I bookmarked it for now).
The other methods I have all tried and they all do a fair job. I don’t do yahoo answers, because as your reply said, they are nofollow.
[...] and backlinks [...]
good tips.. i like it
thaks for sharing ok
Great list! Thanks for sharing. I have always found link building to be really difficult and time consuming. Will be trying out these 9 tips – Thanks again
Great ! Very usefull article, thank you